Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Mandy Greenfield has announced a New Play Commissioning Program and New Musical Commissioning Program, through which the Festival will commission and develop three to five projects annually from playwrights, composers and collaborative devisers from across the career spectrum. The program launches with inaugural artists Fernanda Coppel (whose new play King Liz premieres this summer at Second Stage), Halley Feiffer (I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard, which just finished an acclaimed run at the Atlantic Theater Company), and Benjamin Scheuer (creator of the current Off Broadway hit The Lion). Each commission also includes a writing residency at Williamstown Theatre Festival. (more...)

On March 16, 2015, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle announced its winners and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura County theater in the year 2014. Announcements were made at a ceremony held at the Beyond the Stars Palace in Glendale, hosted by Dixie Longate (Dixie's Tupperware Party) with musical direction by Corey B. Hirsch (LADCC award winner for A Man of No Importance in 2014). (more...)

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: THE KING AND I and the NEW YORK SPRING SPECTACULAR start performances! (more...)

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, the political controversy surrounding the release of The Interview, and continued suppression of plays, books, and art in American schools, libraries and museums, the battle for freedom of speech and expression is more essential than ever. Planet Connections Theatre Festivity will present an evening of world premiere plays by Erik Ehn, Halley Feiffer, Israel Horovitz and Neil LaBute addressing censorship in the arts in Playwrights for a Cause, to be held at 7:30pm on June 14, 2015 at the Sheen Center, located at 18 Bleecker Street. (more...)

Off-Broadway's award-winning Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciaran O'Reilly, Producing Director) proudly announces the fourth production of its 27th theatre season, the New York premiere of Nate Rufus Edelman's THE BELLE OF BELFAST, directed by Claudia Weill. THE BELLE OF BELFAST was developed as part of the Irish Rep's Reading Series in 2013. THE BELLE OF BELFAST will begin previews on Wednesday, April 15, 2015. The production is scheduled to run through Sunday, June 7, 2015. The Opening Night is scheduled for Thursday, April 23, 2015. (more...)

MCC THEATER has announced the final production of its four-show 2015-16 Main Stage Season, which runs August 2015 through June 2016. Playwright Halley Feiffer (I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard) will make her MCC Theater debut with her play A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York City. Trip Cullman returns to direct after helming this season's critically acclaimed hit Punk Rock. Full details below. This also marks the reunion of Feiffer and Cullman following their hit production of I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard at the Atlantic Theater Company in early 2015. (more...)

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: THE EVENTS and THE ICEMAN COMETH open off-Broadway, FIRST DATE heads to Chicago, THE BODYGUARD tour kicks off in the UK and more! (more...)

The Fringe Arts Festival, the world's largest multi-arts festival, which took root in Edinburgh, Scotland seven decades ago and remains robust till this day--hosting 49,497 performances, 3,193 shows in 299 venues in its latest annual edition in Edinburgh--is finally setting foot in Manila, Philippines from today, February 12 through Sunday, March 1. (more...)

Lincoln Center Theater has announced that Patti LuPone, Dale Soules, and Michael Urie will be featured in the cast of its upcoming production of SHOWS FOR DAYS, a new play by Douglas Carter Beane, to be directed by Jerry Zaks. The production will begin performances Saturday evening, June 6 and open on Monday, June 29 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street). (more...)

On Friday, March 6, noted arranger Fred Barton will bring the music of Broadway and the American Songbook showmanship to the Schimmel Center at Pace University in American Showstoppers: An Evening of Irving Berlin. Hailed by George Gershwin as 'the greatest songwriter that has ever lived,' the legendary Irving Berlin composed some of the most influential and widely-known songs ever written, many of which have come to form the Great American Songbook. Fred Barton now brings the power of Berlin's Broadway sound front and center, with a hot 14-piece orchestra and a cast of 17 Broadway singers and dancers, and direction and choreography by Jason Wise. (more...)

The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), the largest multi-arts festival in North America, will present the 19th Annual Festival from August 14 - 30, 2014. Each year the festival presents programming by nearly 200 of the world's best emerging theatre troupes and dance companies. General FringeNYC applications for 2015 are currently being accepted for participants in all genres (theatre, dance, puppetry, performance art, multi-media, etc.). Separate FringeAL FRESCO (free outdoor events) and FringeJR (children's programming) applications are also available. (more...)

The world premiere of Application Pending, a new comedy by Greg Edwards & Andy Sandberg about the hilariously cutthroat world of kindergarten admissions at New York private schools, officially opened last night, February 10, 2015 at the Westside Theatre (407 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036).Application Pending is playing a limited engagement through April 19, 2015. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the opening night red carpet below! (more...)

On Monday, February 9 2015, the Theater People Podcast welcomes Keala Settle, Tony nominee for HANDS ON A HARDBODY, currently starring as Madame Thenardier in the Broadway production of LES MISERABLES Keala shares stories from her three years on the road as Tracy Turnblad in the national tour of HAIRSPRAY, making her Broadway debut in PRISCILLA: QUEEN OF THE DESERT, how the HARDBODY Tony nomination changed her life, and how she won the role of Thenardier having never seen a single production of LES MIS.
Keala also talks about the darker side of the business, the heartache of HANDS ON A HARDBODY being a a critical failure which resulted in a swift closure,how the HAIRSPRAY tour led to her decision to step away from acting, and her cherished time working as a stagehand while she tried to figure out if she should take another stab at performing. (more...)

"RuPaul's Drag Race" returns to Logo TV with a gaggle of queens so ingenious, a competition so unpredictable and a judges' panel so packed with talent, you'll be seeing stars! Get a sneak peek below! (more...)